Over the shoulder, out of the closet

How will the popcorn-munching first-bencher in PVR Cinema receive an 18-minute documentary showcasing intensely personal narratives of homosexuals, including queer icons such as Rajpipala’s Manvendra Singh Gohil? Filmmaker Nayantara Roy is currently mulling over the implications of a ‘public’ release of her upcoming documentary Over the Shoulder, which probes into the impact of the repealing of Section 377 of the IPC (that which criminalises homosexuality).

Nayantara Roy (below) with Manvendra Singh Gohil (above)

“It will be lovely to screen it before the feature film slot in a mainstream multiplex setting,” says Roy, “Although I am aware that such a niche product cannot sing to the choir. But these deeply human and honest queer voices will be consumed only in film festival circuits, if they don’t reach the masses.” Her purpose is to ask the average moviegoers how free are the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transvestites (LGBT) community in India. Has India really moved on? What does a legal change mean to those whose gender and sexuality is questioned and stereotyped? US-based Roy was in Mumbai for the last shoot and will soon submit the film as her graduate thesis at the New York Film Academy, where she is pursuing a degree.

The film has gay and lesbian perspectives, in India and abroad, and also across India’s urban-rural divide. The rural experiences, mostly anonymous, are pieced together by social workers and support groups. Roy met LGBT people in villages of Kerala and Bengal, and included timelines that track their life in other states too. There are many disturbing and inspiring accounts of everyday struggles. “I want to bring out the pride and celebratory quotient, while denouncing discrimination and furtive shame.”

That’s why Roy has focused on interviews of icons such as Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi who is working for the cause of eunuchs; the owners of Azad Bazaar, an LGBT store, Simran and Sabina; screenwriter Gazal Dhaliwal; England-returned psycholoigist Deepak Kashyap who now helps Mumbai’s queer teens and their parents and activists of the Humsafar Trust who advocate for the rights and health of LGBT people. At the root of these interviews are simple everyday experiences: bringing up a queer child; living in a neighborhood which questions queer identity; the issues surrounding queer marriages.

The title, Over the Shoulder, also points to a reality the film is driving home.

As the film was being shot, Roy realized the “furtive” glances of many who have not openly come out to the world. “Almost 70 per cent of my shots seem over the shoulder OTS. These people would look over their shoulder at me, notice my camera and then hurriedly look away. The montage of OTS shots suggests a collective closet. I found it natural and a part of that journey,” Roy says.

Roy, earlier a Mumbai-based theatre person who worked with Jaimini Pathak’s Working Title feels the discrimination boils down to the lack of basic civil liberties and freedom. “As artists, we relate to creative freedom, censorship and repression,” she says. “But the same logic applies to gays or lesbians whose bedroom is also not free from unnatural pressures. They pay a big price for being ‘different’? As Indians, we discriminate against them and yet claim to follow a constitution that advocates inclusiveness and understanding.”

Roy says it would have been nicer if her documentary had voices from the commercial Indian cinema industry and the modeling/fashion world, which has many queer members glamorous people who have fan followings of their own. But these ‘names’ do not want to publicly embrace their natural identities, considering their mass-market stakes. “If they come out, they will inspire other closeted teens in India,” says Roy. “We, as a people, will then eventually be freed from the silly, shameful gay stereotypes.”